Workforce development must be an Iowa priority, according to the Iowa Business Council’s 2016 report. To fill an expected 612,000 job openings by 2025, we need to attract and retain more workers.
That’s a challenge for Iowa, which has a relatively low unemployment rate of 3.7 percent and the slowest population growth in the country. The Business Council’s report indicates that Iowa is the only state whose total population did not grow at least 50 percent between 1900 and 2010. Our growth rate during that time was 36.5 percent. From 2010 to 2015, America’s population grew by 4 percent, while Iowa’s increased by only 2.5 percent.
Senate File 2280 is designed to spur Iowa’s economy by attracting more visitors and tourism, as well as more families to live, work and make their home here. It would provide resources to programs that enhance Iowa’s economic development, create recreational and cultural opportunities, and invest in natural resources.
The bill creates an Enhance Iowa Board, an Enhance Iowa Fund, a Sports Tourism program and fund, and provides additional resources to existing recreational, cultural and natural resources programs. Each fiscal year that the state has a surplus of more than $100 million, $25 million will go to these “Enhance Iowa” efforts. The money will be used for state and county parks, watershed protection, recreational trails, community attractions and tourism projects, and sporting events that attract visitors to the area.
SF 2280 has been approved by the Appropriations Committee and is ready for debate in the full Senate.